MORGANTOWN, W.Va., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Antonio Bryant caught 11 passes for 186 yards and a score and Nick Lotz kicked two fourth-quarter field goals Saturday to give Pittsburgh a 23-17 Big East Conference victory over West Virginia.
Bryant caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from David Priestley late in the second quarter to give the Panthers a 17-14 lead. Slowed by an ankle injury early in the season, Bryant has caught 21 passes with six touchdown receptions in his last three games.
West Virginia tied the game in the third quarter on a 23-yard field goal by Brenden Rauh.
Lotz put the Panthers ahead to stay with a 21-yard field goal nine seconds into the final period and added a 19-yarder seven minutes later to give Pittsburgh the win in the 94th edition of the "Backyard Brawl."
Pittsburgh (5-5, 4-3 Big East) won its fourth straight game after a 1-5 start and will close the regular season next week by hosting Alabama-Birmingham.
West Virginia (3-8, 1-6) completed its first season under coach Rich Rodriguez with its worst record since 1978, when Frank Cignetti was coach. Don Nehlen took over in 1980 and stayed for 21 years.
Priestley completed 17 of 29 passes for 269 yards with the one touchdown pass to Bryant and was not intercepted.
Pittsburgh jumped to a 10-0 lead on a 13-yard pass from running back Marcus Freeman to Kris Wilson and a 21-yard field goal by Lotz early in the second quarter.
West Virginia took a 14-10 lead later in the quarter when Rasheed Marshall score on a 44-yard run and threw a 10-yard pass to A.J. Nastasi.
Marshall took over for Brad Lewis, who broke a collarbone in the first quarter.
